Method of producing easily pulverized xerogel



Patented iii METHOD OF PitODUCING EASILY PULVERIZED XEROGIEL Kenneth K. Kearby, Elizabeth, N. JL, asslgnor to Standard Oil Development Company, a corporation of Delaware No Drawing. Application March-26, 1943,

' Serial No. 480,654

3 Claims. (Ci. 2'52 a17) This invention relates to a process for the mangel, treating the precipitated gel with a water-solufacture of dried hydrous oxides from colloidal uble organic liquid which has substantially no solutions and, more particularly, to the manu-- solvent action on the ge1 and removing the liquid facture of an improved low-density gel. by vaporization at atmospheric pressure. Ac-

Gelatinous masses may be divided into two 5 cording to one modification, the gel may be preclasses, the gelatinous. precipitates and the jellies cipitated from a solution of the salt in the wateraccording to whether the product formed settles soluble organic liquid which may contain as out in a fiocculent mass or occupies the entire much as 80% water, but preferably not more than volume that the original solution occupied and According to another modification of the appears microscopically homogeneous. l0 invention, the hydrous oxide is first precipitated The most widely used of the inorganic gels in from a solution of the salt in water and the water the dried condition is that of silica with or withthen replaced with the water-soluble organic liqout the addition of other gelatinous materials, uid by washing the resulting aquagel with the orsuch as alumina. Most of the silica gel now used ganic liquid. In either case, the removal of the commonly in industry is made by mixing rapidly organic liquid yields products which are easily a solution of water glass with a solution of some pulverized into very low density fine particles. suitable salt or acid, usually the latter, and al- This property of low density is particularly lowing the mixture to stand until it becomes a characteristic of the gels prepared according to still. jelly. The jelly is then broken up, washed this invention and makes them particularly suited free from salts, and allowed to dry slowly. It as the support of contact catalysts. shrinks greatly in drying, and when completely Suitable water-soluble organic liquids which y, t is a Ve y a ssy mass. These matemay be used in treating the precipitated gel acr a s a e d n d i t e a t a er elshey cording to this invention are alcohols, such as are to be distinguished from aerogels in that they methanol, ethanol, propanol, isopropanol, tercan be immersed in water and subsequently dried tiary butanol, etc., ketones, such as acetone, at an elevated temperat re an at ospheric methyl ethyl ketone, di-ethyl ketone, etc., and press re Without Changing te y t app other water-soluble compounds, such as acetic ent density and other physical properties. acid, dioxane, ethylene oxide, etc. If desired, the

These properties o these driiid els make them alcohol or other water-soluble liquid may subseparticularly suitable as catalysts or catalyst caran quently b replaced by a non-polar fl i h as riers in many chemical reactions and as adsorbpropane or butane. Protective colloid and other cuts for the refining of oils. They have been stabilizing agents may be present. found p r larly suitable for promoting t The process of this invention is not limited to catalytic conversion of hydrocarbons. However, synthetic gels but may also be applied to other due to the extreme hardness of the dried prodmaterials, such as wet bentonites, clays, etc., to

uct, the preparation of a suitable powdered catagive lighter materials having a finer particle size lyst from these gels has been difilcult. Powdered by extracting the water with a non-aqueous fluid, catalysts are especially useful in the new type of such as alcohol, and then driving oil the alcohol. hydrocarbon conversions in which powdered The following experiments are given to indicatalysts are suspended in the gases orvapors 41 cate in general the preparation of the gels acbeing converted. These powders are very fine cording to this invention, and while they are iland have preferably a particle size between 15 to lustrative, they are not given with the intent of 20 microns and 200 mesh. The hardness of the limiting the scope of the invention to the spedried gel makes it expensive to pulverize the mass cific instances presented:

suficiently fine for use in such a process. 45

Consequently, it is the primary object of this Example 1 invention to prepare a dried gel of improved A colloidal silica solution was prepared by stirquality, particularly with respect to ease of powring 2 ,42 liters of a solution containing 517 cc. of daring. water glass, having a specific gravityof 1.38, into It is a further object of this invention to preso 2% liters of a solution containing 200 cc. of conpare finely powdered gels of high quality and low centrated hydrochloric acid. One liter of this density. solution was diluted to 2320 cc. with distilled wa- According to the present invention, an imter and 233 cc. of a solution containing 57 grams proved and easily powdered gel of low density is of A1Cl3.6H2O were added. The alumina and silprepared by precipitating a hydrous oxide as a ica were then precipitated with 360 cc. of 2.8%

aqueous ammonia solution. After thorough washing with water, the precipitate was dried at atmospheric pressure to a hard, lumpy product. This product was then ground according to a standard procedure by passing the dried gel twice thru a rotating disc grinder with a set clearance. After grinding, it had an apparent density of 0.5 gram per cc.

Example 2 A solution of 103 cc. of waterglass in 200 cc. of distilled water was poured slowly into a stirred solution of 40 cc. of concentrated hydrochloric acid in 160 cc. of water and 500 cc. of 98% isopropyl alcohol. A solution of 57 grams of A1Cla.6H2O in 130 cc. of water and 100 cc. of isopropyl alcohol were added. This solution was diluted with 1320 cc. of isopropyl alcohol and neutralized with a solution of 80 cc. of concentrated ammonium hydroxide in 200 cc. of water and 460 cc. of isopropyl alcohol. The precipitate was illtered, washed with liters of water, dried at atmospheric pressure and ground in the same manner as above. The product had an apparent density of 0.281 gram per cc. and the particles were much smaller than those in Example 1.

Example 3 316 cc. of ethyl silicate and 493 cc. of 98% isopropyl alcohol were added to 195 cc. of a solution containing 71 grams of A1C1a.6H2O in water. After standing 16 hours, this solution was diluted with 2.4 liters of distilled water and the oxides precipitated with 480 cc. of 2.8% ammonia solution. After thorough washing with water and drying at atmospheric pressure, the product was soft and easily converted into a powder. The apparent density of the product was 0.38 gram per cc. and the particles, after grinding in the same manner as in Example 1, were smaller than those in Example 1.

Example 4 1 liter of the silica solution described in Example 1 was added to a solution of 40 grams of agaragar in one liter of distilled water. This was diluted with 1100 cc. of water and 233 cc. of a solution containing 57 grams of AlCls.6HzO and filtered. The alumina and silica were then precipitated from the solution with 360 cc. of 2.8% ammonia solution and filtered and washed. Half of the precipitate was dried at atmospheric pressure to give a hard, glassy product which had an apparent density of 0.6 gram per cc. The particles were much larger than those of Example 1.

Example 5 The remaining portion of the precipitate formed in'Example 4 was washed with 5 liters of 98% isopropyl alcohol in 2 extractions and dried and ground as in Example 1. The resulting product had an apparent density of 0.15 gram per cc. and the particles were in the range between 20 microns and 200 mesh.

The above examples indicate clearly that finely powdered particles having a very low density can be obtained by treating a precipitated gel with a water-soluble organic liquid and then drying the gel at atmospheric pressure to remove the liquid. This fact is particularly indicated in Examples 4 and 5 in which a silica-aluminum gel was precipitated in water in the presence of agaragar as a protective colloid. When the gel was dried directly from this aqueous solution, the product had relatively high apparent density of 0.6 gram per 00., was a hard, glassy product, dif- 4 magnesium, zirconium, tin,

flcult to reduce to powder. However, when the water was removed from the same precipitate by extracting with 98% isopropyl alcohol and then dried, the resulting gel had a much lower apparent density of 0.15 gram per cc., and was easily reduced to a fine powder.

The direct precipitation of a gel in an organic liquid solution is shown in Example 2 in which a silica-alumina gel is precipitated in the presence of isopropyl alcohol. When dried and ground, the product had a very low apparent density of 0.281 and the particles were smaller than those obtained in Example 1 in which the gel was dried from an aqueous solution.

It is thus apparent that this invention discloses a method of preparing finely divided catalysts having particle sizes within the range desired in the catalytic conversion of hydrocarbons. While the above examples describe aluminum silicates, the method of this invention applies equally well to other hydrous gelatinous precipitates, such as oxides, hydroxides, sulfides, etc. of such elements as silicon, aluminum, titanium, iron, chromium,

tungsten, molybdenum, manganese, nickel, cobalt, platinum, etc., and their mixtures, such as silica-magnesia, alumina-boria, alumina-chromia, alumina-mo- ,lybdena, etc.

2. In the process defined by claim 1, the further improvement wherein the inorganic .salt comprises an aluminum salt. I

3. A method of producing a dry, easily pulverized xerogel which comprises forming a silica sol from an inorganic silicate in the presence of an alcohol, thereafter adding aluminum chloride to said sol, precipitating the aluminum chloride by the addition of ammonia, washing the resulting product and drying the same.

. KENNETH K. KEARBY.

REFERENCES crrnn The following references are of record in the tile of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,166,868 Jones July 18, 1939 2,188,007 Kistler Jan. 23, 1940 1,584,716 Behrman May 18, 1926 2,285,449 Marshall June 9, 1942 2,232,727 Peterkin et al'. Feb. 25, 1941 2,356,773 Marshall Aug. 29, 1944 2,097,634 Malan et al Nov. 2, 1937 1,793,350 Bader et al. Feb. 17, 1931 2,093,454 Kistler Sept. 21, 1937 2,342,249 Burk Feb. 22, 1944 2,317,803 Reeves et al Apr. 27, 1943 OTHER REFERENCES Ind. 8: Eng. Chem., vol. 32, No. 12, Dec. 1940, page 1608. 

